Police brutality continues
It definitely evident that there is a real problem with policing in America. Inasmuch as police find themselves under scrutiny by cameras from the citizens, businesses, and their own, some continue undeterred with their brutality.
Officer Nathanial Robinson stopped Pete Vasquez purportedly for an expired inspection sticker. The seemingly ignorant officer did not understand that a dealer car with dealer plates did not require an inspection sticker. Instead of listening to Pete Vasquez explaining the cop’s error, it was obvious from the video that the ‘Almighty Officer’ was not interested in having Pete Vasquez speak. He should have.
ABC13 reported the following.
VICTORIA, TX — A Victoria police officer has been placed on administrative duty after his dashboard camera caught him Tasering an elderly man.
In the video obtained by the Victoria Advocate, Officer Nathanial Robinson is seen arresting 76-year-old Pete Vasquez, when he suddenly throws Vasquez onto the hood of the car, pulls him to the ground and Tasers him.
Vasquez said the cop acted more like a pit bull than a police officer.
“I turn around and he pulled that Taser and he shot me with it, and you know it looked like he’s enjoying that,” Vasquez said.
Vasquez said the officer Tasered him a second time for failing to get up fast enough.
“He ordered me to get up and get up, so he could put the handcuffs on me and I couldn’t get up, so he put his Taser and he did it again,” Vasquez said.
The Victoria Texas police chief said that officer Nathanial Robinson is now under investigation both locally and by the Texas Rangers. A sticker violation is a class C misdemeanor usually addressed with a simple citation. In this case, it was in fact a dealer car and required no citation. As such there was no reason to arrest or even stop Pete Vasquez.
There are many components to police behavior. Most importantly is the lack of accountability. The reality is that while some police officers are the perpetrators of bad behavior in the punitive manner in which they deal with some citizens, it is the citizens who bear much of the responsibility for indicting them when they misbehave. The dereliction of citizen’s civic duty embolden some police officers to exhibit an unchecked bullying behavior.